The youngest residents at the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Center in India have yet to open their eyes and see the world around them. They are three small clawed otter pups ‘rescued’ by the locals of the fringe villages of the central range of Kaziranga National Park.

The pups were displaced from their den during the recent floods in the area and were found floating on a water hyacinth on the morning of September 6.

The villagers, who rescued the pups while fishing, were rather curious about the small animals. One of the villagers had in fact taken two of the pups to his home while another local informed the forest guards of the Assam Forest Department about their find.

With water levels rising, the forest guards and villagers could not trace the mother otter’s den to bring the pups back.

After the frustrated reunion attempt, Manoj Gogoi a forest guard from Kaziranga National Park informed the IFAW-WTI staff at the rescue center about the pups who then promptly reached the scene to pick up the orphaned otters.

This is the first time that small clawed otter pups have been admitted to the center from Kaziranga National Park. Prasanta Das, one of the oldest animal keepers at the center, is now busy taking care of them day and night.

Much like newborn human babies, the orphan pups need milk every two hours, so the pups are bottle-fed and looked by Prasanta and the center’s Senior vet Dr. Anjan Talukdar.

For wild otter pups orphaned at such a young age, they are thankfully responding quite well. It’s really heartening to see all the three little boys accepting and drinking the milk, while the eyes are still shut, reacting purely on instinct.